MUNICIPALITY OF CALAMBA, Historical Data of Part 1

PART I

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About these Historical Data

The transcription of this page was done using AI technology.

[p. 1]

THE GROWTH OF CALAMBA

Many stories have been handed from generation to generation about the origin of the town of Calamba but there are no records to prove their authenticity.

A legend told by an old man says that many years ago there was no town of Calamba. The next town to Cabuyao, an old town, was Bay. When the Spanish friars came they asked the ruler of Cabuyao for a piece of land as big as the skin of an animal for pasturing their animals which would provide them with milk. The town officials agreed but the wily priests cut the animal skin into very thin strips and got as much land as could be enclosed with the strips placed end to end. They were able to obtain a vast tract of land which they called hacienda. Then they built a large building which the people called hacienda and built a church near it. At first the northern boundary was the San Cristobal River but the friars kept moving their fences until Mamatid became the northern boundary. Those friars used the small hill in the west as their pasture land for their animals and named it Lecheria from the Spanish word leche which means milk.

1. Words for study:

generation    authenticity    friars
origin    wily

2. Questions

1. How did the friars obtain a vast tra[missing word] in the town of Calamba?

[missing word]

[p. 2]

2. Why is the hill in the southwestern part of the town called Lecheria?

HOW CALAMBA GOT ITS NAME

Another story accounts for the name Calamba. The Spaniards who surveyed the land that was formerly a part of Cabuyao met a woman who was carrying a big jar. They asked her what that place was called. She could not understand their language and thinking that they asked her for the name of the jar she was carrying she answered “Calamba”. The Spaniards called the place Calamba and the present town still retains that name.

1. Words for study:

Surveyed    formerly

2. Questions:

1. What does Calamba mean?
2. Why is this town named Calamba?

CALAMBA’S PART DURING THE REVOLUTION

After Rizal’s death in 1896, the people of Calamba experienced a period of terror. News leaked out and spread from mouth to mouth that the Spanish officials had a grudge against the Calambenios and believed that most of them were connected with Rizal. When Rizal left the Philippines for Spain he carried with him a letter written to the queen of Spain explaining the abuses suffered by the landholders in the town and signed by many of them. The people believed

[p. 3]

that the letter fell into the hands of the Spanish authorities and they feared for their safety. They then left Calamba with their families and evacuated to Silang, Cavite. Only the Spanish officials and the collaborators stayed.

The revolutionists made plans to take the town by assault. In the early morning of Wednesday, June 1, 1898, a group of Filipino soldiers under the leadership of Felipe Belarmino entered the town from the east by way of San Juan River and another company under the leadership of his brother Melquiades Belarmino entered from the north from the barrio of Bañadero. General Paciano Rizal was to enter from the west by way of Lecheria. When the Spaniards learned of the attack the soldiers and the priest and the Spanish residents of the town concentrated in the hacienda, a big building near the church surrounded by a wall, and in the church. The revolutionists stationed themselves in the yards behind the houses about two hundred yards from the two buildings and fired whenever a Spaniard appeared in the window. As they had few guns they fired firecrackers when they fired their guns to make their enemy believe that they were well armed. The Spaniards had plenty of guns and fired in the direction of the shots. The siege and the intermittent firing lasted for three days. On the second day of the siege the Spaniards raised a white flag. The Calambenios came out of their hiding places to confer but the enemy opened fire on them. They ran for cover and fight. In the morning of the third day the[missing word]

[p. 4]

“casadores” from Lipa arrived to aid the besieged Spaniards. General Paciano Rizal’s soldiers met them at Bantayan in front of the present Cine Makiling. A small cannon was placed in the middle of the street and the soldiers hid in the canal at the side of the street. As the enemy approached, the man firing the cannon could not hit the piston but when the enemy was very near he had the good fortune to strike the proper place. The shell exploded and the bullets which consisted of pieces of iron swept the advancing soldiers. Those who escaped unhurt ran back and retreated for safety. The Filipino soldiers ran after them and drove them away as far as the barrio of Real. Many guns were collected from the fallen Spaniards.

In the afternoon of the third day as no help arrived and because the Spanish soldiers in the church and the hacienda had no food and water they surrendered. The Calambeños under Paciano Rizal then controlled the town. They could not feed and guard the Spanish captives so they gave them as servants to the wealthy residents who fed them only as compensation for their services. They remained servants until the Americans captured the town and liberated them.

1. Words for study

2. Questions

1. Why was there a period of terror in Calamba after Rizal’s death?

[p. 5]

2. Where did the people of Calamba evacuate?
3. Fill in the blanks in the following sentences:
   1. The Filipino soldiers who entered the town from the east were led by __________.
   2. Those who entered the town from the south were led by __________.
   3. The Spaniards were concentrated in the __________ and __________ when the revolutionists attacked the town.
   4. The siege of the town lasted for __________ days.
   5. Spanish soldiers from __________ came to help the besieged Spaniards.
   6. The Spaniards surrendered because they had no __________ and __________.
   7. After the surrender Calamba was under the rule of __________.
   8. The Spanish captives were made __________.

GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS IN CALAMBA DURING THE SPANISH PERIOD

I. Gobernadorcillos or Capitanes Municipales

1. Estanislao Herbosa
2. Lamberto Alcala
3. Gervasio Alviar
4. Francisco Salgado
5. Juan Salgado
6. Andres Salgado
7. Calixtro Llamas
8. Luis Eleazar
9. Lucas Quintero    1884–1886
10. Luis Habana    1886–1888
11. Matias Belarmino
12. Nicolas Llamas

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13. Cirilo Ustariz
14. Eusebio Elepanio    1896–1898

II. Cura Parroco

III. Juez de Policia

1. Vicente Bancain
2. Juan Bandola
3. Eduardo Alcanitez
4. Pablo Escala
5. Procopio Pabalan

IV. Maestro Municipal

1. Domingo Reyes
2. Fernando Genoveso
3. Mariano Revilla
4. Juan Salgado

Sources of Information:
Mr. Leandro Uichanco
Mr. Segundo Alcaraz

THE JAPANESE OCCUPATION

News of the bombing of Pearl Harbor in the early morning of December 8, 1941 by Japanese planes spread quickly over the town. At about nine o’clock the parents fetched their children in school and took them home. By ten o’clock the schools were deserted and the people flocked to[missing word]

[p. 7]

the stores and bought food and canned goods to stock. Before night–fall the groceries were clean. During the days that followed most of the people stayed at home fearing that the worst may happen at any time. Then on December 24, 1941 at about ten o’clock in the morning the people experienced the first bombing by two Japanese planes. It was repeated at two o’clock in the afternoon. Late in the afternoon the people evacuated to the fields and nearby barrios. The bombing continued the next day which was Christmas day and the evacuation of the town continued. On the twenty–sixth of December Calamba was a ghost town.

On December 31, 1941 news spread in the evacuation areas that the Japanese army was approaching the town, and that 50,000 Japanese soldiers were on their way to occupy it momentarily. Many of the people did not believe the report for they were made to believe in the Government propaganda that our armies were successful in repelling the invasion forces in all directions north, south, east and west. Nevertheless seemingly endless procession of people carrying bundles of food and clothes trekked the fields in the afternoon and the whole night going to farther barrios. In the early morning of January 1, 1942, the vanguard of the Japanese invasion forces surprised a band of volunteer guards who were left to guard the town. They were captured by the invaders and made to work for them.

According to the eyewitnesses the first Japanese soldiers to arrive in the town were on foot and weak from[missing word]

[p. 8]

exhaustion. Some walked lamely while others rested by the roadside. After a short rest the soldiers began looting the town. The Japanese opened the houses and the stores and got all the things they wanted. They got food, clothes, and the valuables that were left by the people who fled in a hurry. After looting the stores and houses the Japanese soldiers left them open and the Filipinos who had the courage to stay in the town and go back and forth in turn looted what the Japanese left. A platoon of Japanese soldiers was left to occupy the town and the main troops proceeded on their way to Manila reaching the city on January 2, 1942.

The Japanese who occupied the town used the Municipal Building for their quarters. Other soldiers who were not accommodated in the building moved to some big houses and the school building. In the school house the Japanese soldiers chopped the desks and used them as firewood to cook their meals. They used books and important papers in kindling their fire. They gave passes to the people who returned to the town. They placed sentries in different places and required everyone who passed by to bow. Many people especially those who did not know the regulation about bowing were called back, slapped on the face, and forced to bow.

The people who evacuated to the fields and barrios did not return to their homes hoping against hope for aid to come. News spread that aid from America, China[missing word]

[p. 9]

and Australia had already arrived and that the Chinese forces were fighting against the invaders in northern Luzon. The Australians were fighting in the south and the Americans were fighting them in the capital. But as days passed into weeks, and weeks into months, and no aid came, and the Japanese still occupied the town, people returned little by little to their homes. Then a new life began, a life which lasted for more than three and a half years, with the sword of Damocles hanging over everyone’s head. When Bataan and later Corregidor, which was believed an impregnable fortress, fell the people became resigned to their fate.

The most note worthy incidents during the Japanese occupation were the increase of Japanese war notes, the scarcity of food, the fabulous prices of goods especially foodstuffs, and the frequent arrests. The prices soared from season to season. In the first harvest during the occupation palay cost seven pesos a cavan. During the second harvest it cost one hundred pesos a cavan. Just before the liberation a ganta of milled rice cost three hundred pesos. Business prospered and business men became millionaires. The army bought supplies at the market every market day, Tuesday and Friday, and paid for the goods with their new war notes. The business men and land owners accumulated much money which was kept in jute sacks or buri bags while the poor could not earn enough to pay for the rice they needed to live. They had to depend on substitutes like corn and camoteng kahoy or lusak.

[p. 10]

Of The Japanese prewar residents of the town, the Takashita brothers and the Toshihide family became powerful and were vested with the legislative, executive, and judicial powers, They played an important part during the whole Japanese occupation acting as instruments of the army in collecting and confiscating rice and firearms, capturing the suspected guerrillas and torturing the prisoners. The pro–Japanese elements became spies and frequented the homes of the Japanese. Several times the Japanese soldiers watched for the horses that were hitched to the carromatas, selected those that pleased them, and paid for the horses. The trucks and carromatas slowly disappeared and the push–carts became popular.

After the first bombing of Manila by the American planes on September 21, 1944, the Japanese army moved mysteriously. Sometimes Japanese soldiers arrived at night and occupied the houses along the road. Once the soldiers confided to us that they were going to Leyte. Each one cooked his food which consisted of a little rice, a few camotes and a piece of ginger all mixed together in his mess–kit. Those soldiers often left the town in the middle of the night.

After the landing of the American soldiers in Leyte on October 20, 1944 the American planes frequently bombed the military objectives in the town of Calamba. On January 1, 1945, the munition dump at the railroad station was hit directly. The shells spread in many directions and hit many[missing word]

[p. 11]

houses. Many people evacuated to the nearby barrio but returned to their homes after a few days.

The people learned about the landing in Lingayen and the rapid march of the American army to the capital but were at a loss as to what to do. Where was it safe to stay? Would it be safer to stay in their homes or to evacuate again to the fields and barrios? No one could answer the questions and there were no instructions from the government so many of the people stayed at home.

1. Words for study

2. Questions

1. When was Pearl Harbor bombed?
2. What did the people of Calamba do when they heard of the bombing?

3. Fill in the blanks in the following sentences:

1. The first bombing of Calamba by Japanese planes was on __________.
2. The people evacuated to the __________ and __________ after the bombing of Calamba.
3. The stores and houses in Calamba were looted by the __________ and the __________.
4. The Japanese soldiers who stayed in the school building used the __________ and __________ in cooking their meals.

[p. 12]

5. During the Japanese period the __________ became rich but the poor suffered from __________.
6. The American planes bombed the __________ in the town.

THE MASSACRE AT CALAMBA

A few days before February 12, 1945, the Takashita brothers and the Toshihide Family left Calamba by automobile for an unknown destination. The people believed that the Japanese left for good because the American liberation forces were very near. The bridges which were blown up by the Americans and the Filipinos and were repaired by the Japanese were blown up for the second time. The people felt more secure for they thought the Japanese would not be able to come back to the town. But the bridges connecting Calamba with the towns of Batangas were left intact so there was one way left.

One February 10, 1945, the people were surprised by the arrival of some Japanese soldiers in the barrio of Real. They stationed themselves at a house near the provincial road and held up and searched all the people passing. They confiscated bolos, knives, sharp implements, and money.

In the afternoon of February 11, some of those soldiers entered the town and searched the people whom they met. Not contented with this they entered some houses and confiscated watches, jewels, and other valuables found in the wardrobes. The people feared for their safety so they[missing word]

[p. 13]

made plans for their evacuation.

At about six o’clock in the morning of Monday, February 12, several truck loads of Japanese soldiers and few soldiers on foot entered the town. According to estimates the soldiers were less than one hundred. They got off their trucks in front of the church and spread fan=like in all directions gathering all the men they could find. They said they needed men to help them work in an airfield in Batangas. Thinking that it was an opportunity to work and that they would be released when the work was finished some men went readily with the soldiers. In some places all the men in the houses were taken, in the barrio of Linga almost all the men were caught. All the men who were rounded up were gathered in the church.

Thousands of people who feared the Japanese and some of those who did not fear them but were warned by a sixth sense of impending danger ran to the fields to escape from the soldiers. The dikes in the fields were full of running men, women and children. When the Japanese soldiers saw the people in the fields they followed them, firing some guns and machine guns which were placed in the barrio of Bañadero. The people wondered, “If men are needed for enforced labor why do the Japanese fire their guns and machine guns?” Some of those who ran to the field and did not go far were overtaken by the soldiers and were made to go back to town and taken to the church. Mr. Pablo Ramos, the district supervisor of Calamba, was one of those caught in the fields.

[p. 14]

After passing in front of the school building he turned and ran toward the market place and hid in a canal. In the evening he went home dressed like a woman for women were not molested.

The soldiers continued gathering the men until noon. Some of those who hid in their houses were captured later when the Japanese made their frequent rounds. At twelve o’clock at noon the church was full of men. Women and children went back and forth to take food to their men, to find out what was being done, and to find ways and means of helping them out. But the church was guarded by soldiers with fixed bayonets and very few were allowed to leave the church.

At two o’clock in the afternoon the Japanese began taking the men in their trucks to an unknown destination. The men believed they were going to work. Since the truck returned in a short time the people in the church concluded that they were to be taken to a nearby place. At twilight the church was almost empty.

Late in the afternoon rumors spread that the men were being killed. A girl who was washing clothes in the river near Real came to the town. She told the people whom she met on the way that a man with a bayonet wound gave her a ten peso bill and asked her to go to town and tell the people that the men were being bayoneted in Real and to advise the people in the church to try to save themselves. That message reached the men in the church somehow but when[missing word]

[p. 15]

someone tried to open the subject the others were angry and quieted him down. They scolded him for making them nervous and excited.

The night some houses in the barrio of Real were burned. The people of the town who escaped from the Japanese in the morning crept back that night, to their homes, gathered a few belongings and left the town. The whole night and the next morning endless streams of people walked from the town to the nearby towns of Cabuyao, Santa Rosa, Biñan and San Pedro, and even as far as Muntinglupa seeking refuge and safety.

Eleodoro Habania, an architect by profession, and a survivor from the massacre told the following story: “We were a truck load of men from the church. My father, my two brothers, my brother–in–law, my uncle, and I were together in the church. We decided not to separate so when the Japanese soldiers came to get us we went together. It was twilight and the men in the church were already few. We were taken to the barrio of Real in one of the Japanese trucks. It stopped in front of a house, and we got off the truck. We were asked to ascend the steps in single file. While we stood in line we were blindfolded and our hands were tied behind us. I felt our lives were in danger. I put my hand as far apart as possible so when they were tied the knot was loose. As I was led upstairs I tried to remove the loose rope. I kept my hands in the same position so as not to attract attention. As soon as I felt I was[missing word]

[p. 16]

entering a room I quickly removed my blindfold. I saw three Japanese soldiers with fixed bayonet and beyond them was a huge pile of dead and wounded bodies covered with blood. I threw my whole weight against the three soldiers who fell at the impact, ran to the nearest window, jumped out of the window, and ran blindly. I heard some shots in my direction but I did not heed them.”

During the week that followed the Japanese and the Makapilis looted and burned the town. The school building, the puericulture center which was inaugurated just before the outbreak of the war, the church, and the residences in Rizal Street, del Pilar Street, and parts of Burgos Street were razed to the ground.

In the morning of February 18, 1945 the Japanese soldiers and the Makapilis entered Canlubang and massacred the people. The evacuees to Cabuyao and Santa Rosa gathered again their belongings and hiked to Biñan, San Pedro, Muntinlupa, Alabang, and other towns in Rizal. On February 26, Tuesday, at nine o’clock A.M. there was carpet bombing in the town of Calamba by the American planes.

On February 22, 65 amphibian tanks passed Biñan on their way to Los Baños to liberate the American prisoners concentrated in the College of Agriculture. The people thought they would occupy the town as far as Los Baños and the people of Calamba prepared to return to their homes but after liberating the prisoners the American forces returned to Manila.

[p. 17]

A band of guerrillas from Calamba entered the town and caught some of the Makapilis. The Javier brothers from Looc and a woman, the wife of a Japanese spy named Dengo, were among those who were caught. They were taken to the guerilla headquarters at Santa Rosa and in the late afternoon of February 25, they were killed at the town plaza in front of the many evacuees from Calamba and the neighboring towns and barrios. The men were killed by bayonet and the woman was burned.

A band of guerrillas from Calamba entered the town on February 27 and attacked the two Japanese patrol. They got the Japanese guns and two bicycles and retreated to the outskirts of the town. In the night many Japanese soldiers entered the town and burned the houses.

1. Words for study

2. Questions

1. What did the Japanese soldiers do in the town in the night of February 11, 1945?
2. When was the massacre of Calamba?
3. Where were all the men concentrated?
4. What did the Japanese do with the men?
5. Were there any survivors in the massacre?
6. What did the guerrillas do with the Makapilis they caught in the town?

[p. 18]

THE MUNICIPAL PRESIDENTS AND MAYORS OF
CALAMBA FROM 1901 to 1949

[p. 19]

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF
THE PRESIDENTS

The first president under the American rule was Mateo Elejorde. His rule from 1901 to 1904 was characterized by many difficulties for the town had just emerged from the heroes of war and disorder. There were lawless elements and the great cholera epidemic of 1902 broke out.

The third president Ramon Santos, was a Spaniard who married the daughter of one of the richest men in the town. He was responsible for the construction of the sidewalks in Rizal and Burgos Streets.

Rafael Pabalan, the president from 1910 to 1917 was responsible for the beginning of the construction of the public market. Two big buildings were erected in the present market site with money loaned by the Insular Government to be paid in installments. Rafael Pabalan died before the end of his term and he was succeeded by his vice president, the late Anastacio Rubio who also died before the end of the term.

Felipe Belarmino was elected for three consecutive terms from 1922 to 1931. Many public improvements were constructed during his administration, the dry goods section, the pig section, the fish section, the stalls in the market, and some improvements in the town plaza. He also improved the irrigation system to supply more water to the rice fields. In 1926, he constructed the water works at a cost[missing word]

[p. 20]

of ₱75,000. The Insular Government helped the municipality with a loan of ₱50,000 while the town supplied ₱25,000.

Roman Lazaro was president for three terms from 1919 to 1922, 1931 to 1934 and 1937 to 1941. He was the mayor before and after the World War II. Many improvements were also constructed during his administration, the fish pond, the big jar on a miniature hill in the plaza, the swimming pool in Pansol Spring, the comfort station in the market, and the Municipal building. This building was constructed in 1937–1948 at a cost of ₱175,000. Part of this amount was borrowed from the Insular Government to be paid in installments. This building was used as the garrison by the Japanese officials and after liberation the rooms below were found smeared with blood. Before the construction of the new municipal building the municipal offices were housed at first in the old hacienda and later in the Elepaño building which was the residence of the family of Capitan Eusebio Elepaño during the Spanish period and which was transformed into cine Rizal.

During the first year after liberation the municipal government was beset with many difficulties. The bad elements who became used to lawlessness during the Japanese occupation continued their robberies, kidnaping, murder, and theft. During this period Roman Lazaro was acting mayor because there was no election. In 1946, Severino Arambulo was appointed mayor by President Roxas. During his administration he constructed Rizal’s well on the Rizal[missing word]

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